


No Other Way

by CaptainTarthister



Series: The Lannisters Are Coming [10]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Established Relationship, F/M, First Day, First Job?, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 20:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11471223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainTarthister/pseuds/CaptainTarthister
Summary: Brienne is anxious about her first day as a teacher. Jaime has some unconventional advice.





	No Other Way

**Author's Note:**

> So. This is a little unusual for me in that the smut is towards the end and not so much--I don't think you can even call it smut. I wanted to focus on how supportive Jaime and Brienne are of each other, that's why this is the story that ended up being written. I hope you're not too disappointed, especially readers who look forward to my smut :-) 
> 
> Just let me try this, okay? Then you'll have your smut back. I SO PROMISE!

Half of the day was spent out. It began with lunch at Wyman Manderly, coffee and dessert at Hot Pie, strolling on the cobblestoned side streets of King’s Landing and ducking inside a shop or store to look at antiques, browse through prized and dirt-cheap secondhand books, before catching an early show of a totally mindless movie with more shots fired than anything resembling a plot, then a quiet, leisurely dinner at Blackfish.

Usually, they would have more energy to spare. But Jaime took off his shoes, dropped his pants and boxers on the floor then leaped facedown on the bed. Brienne took a shower and pulled on one of Jaime's old t-shirts and threadbare jogging pants. She lay down beside him, sighing with quiet pleasure as his arm settled on her waist and he pulled her to his chest.

Ten minutes later, Jaime was snoring. And Brienne, who had felt exhausted after a long day, couldn’t keep still.

She left the room and went to her desk. Hers was an antique roll-top while Jaime’s was a sleek, contemporary workstation. His was piled with photographs, magazines, pages clipped and saved from publications. Hers was crowded with books. She sat down, opened a drawer and pulled out three sheets of paper. Her syllabus. Her very first syllabus: Introduction to the Literature of Westeros.

She flicked on a lamp and started making notes on the papers.

She made a first outline, then another, planning in her head the lecture she would be giving tomorrow. Dear gods, it was her first ever lecture. She would be a teacher beginning tomorrow. As a graduate student, she did TA duties and had only handled a class on her own a few times—often just to supervise, not really teach. In a few hours, she would be teaching for the very first time.

Brienne, suddenly sweaty despite the season of fall, got up and went to the kitchen. She helped poured a pinch of a full-bodied Dornish red in a goblet. On second thought, she poured more until half-full. She took a sip.

Then another.

She poured herself another glass.

Fuck. She was going to teach. Students. Students would be staring at her and expecting to learn.

She took the bottle with her back to the desk.

By the time Jaime came for her, the bottle was empty and she was pacing the living room, murmuring and making more notes on index cards. She froze upon realizing he was leaning against the wall, watching her with his brilliant but sleepy green eyes and soft, beautiful smile.His t-shirt was rumpled and his boxers inside-out. Still, he was a very welcome treat to the eyes.

 Red flared from her cheeks and she mumbled, “I can’t sleep. I’m too nervous.”

Jaime, noticing the empty bottle on the coffee table, sighed. “So you thought to drink instead of talking to me?”

She smirked. “You were snoring.”

“It’s been a long day.” He stretched and yawned hugely, looking like a very sleepy lion. “And you’re not doing yourself any favors staying up until one in the morning fretting over your first lecture. You should be resting. Come on.” He held out his hand to her.

Brienne shook his head. “I have to get this right. Jaime, my future career rests on this first day.”

“So?”

Outraged, she growled, “So? Really? What the hell?”

He sighed again and sat on the couch. “Okay. You know that your career depends on your lecture. Now what? Are you going to let it take over you? Rule you?”

“I-I don’t understand.”

“You already know that’s what it is. But your worrying over it means you haven’t completely accepted it. And as someone who’s had more than enough experiences with failure, my advice, my dear sweet Brienne, is to just let go. Just accept things as they are and just. . .”he waved his hands. “You know. Let go.”

Brienne frowned at him. “I don’t think you understand how important this is to me.” She couldn’t hide the hurt from her voice.

“As a matter of fact I do. I know how important this is to you, honey. I really do. And I wish you’ll do well. I know you’ll do well. But worrying over your opening line or how it’s this career-defining activity won’t help you. It will never help anyone. You should try doing what I do.”

“This better be good.” Brienne sat on an armchair and looked at him.

Jaime grinned. “Accept that you’ll fail.”

She jumped to her feet. _“What?”_

Unperturbed by her outburst, he shrugged. “I’m serious. Accept you’ll suck, that the students will find you boring. The moment you do, you’ll reach this place where you don’t give a fuck and. . .that’s when you actually impress the pants off everyone in the room.”

Then he leaned back on the couch, stacked his arms on top of it, looking smug. He stared at her dubious, flushed face. “You can thank me later.”

“You want me to fail?” She demanded.

“No. Of course not! Never, Brienne.” Jaime looked shocked. “All I’m saying is, when you accept that no matter how prepared you are that you’re still going to fall flat on your ass, that’s when it kicks in, you know. The killer instinct.” Brienne’s scowl deepened but he continued. “To accept the futility of things is to open the door to promise.”

The grooves between her pale eyebrows deepened as she digested his words. Jaime watched as doubt then confusion scudded on her face, replaced by a softening of her expression but still did not reduce the tight tension of her wide jaw. Then she stared at him dubiously, clearly torn between believing and questioning him further. Jaime got up from the couch then joined her on the armchair. It was wide, bought specifically because it could fit them both. Reluctantly, Brienne shifted to the side, crossing her legs. She turned away from Jaime, staring out of the window where the rest of King’s Landing was asleep.

“To accept futility is to open the door to promise,” she murmured.

“Or another way of putting it—‘Chaos is a ladder.’”Jaime grimaced. “You know that book right? That centuries-old treatise by some loon named Mockingbird. It’s a very. . .mercenary approach to getting what you want. ‘Keep your enemies guessing so they never know what you want’ and all these ideas that personally, I’m uncomfortable with but if you want to get to the top, you gotta find opportunities in areas of failure. Mining those failures.” He ran a finger down her arm and Brienne had to fight the urge to sink against his touch.

“Honey, you are not going to fail. But I worry that stressing over tomorrow might bring you precisely what you wish to avoid.” He kissed her on the shoulder.

“I just. . .I have to get it right, Jaime.” Brienne said helplessly, looking at him. “I mean, Dr. Stark recommended me. I can’t disappoint her.” She touched his cheek, her sapphire eyes hooded with anxiety. “Or you. Especially you.”

He turned to kiss her fingertips. “Disappoint me? Never.”

Despite how she was feeling ,she cracked a smile. “You’re just saying that.”

“Remember when you wanted to wear that awful turtleneck sweater to dinner with your father that one time and I told you to burn it?”

Brienne slapped him on the knee. “The yellow one? I loved that sweater! It was roomy and really comfortable. All snuggly.”

Jaime rolled his eyes. “It’s the kind of sweater you wear because your boyfriend dumped you and you’ve been eating ice cream and you’ve gained five pounds since. Plus, yellow is not your color. I told you to change and you won’t believe me. Hells, I even offered to pay you. I also vowed to go down on you for the entire month just as long as you got rid of that sweater and wore something nice. Finally you listened—or not, I still think you wore that sweater precisely to get what I last offered—“ He smirked as she hit him on the knee again. “Brienne, my point is I will be always honest with you. Often you’re not going to like it. And more often than not, I do deserve to get shot for saying them. But I will never bullshit you. I will never lie. I don’t just say things. Trust me. So to reiterate, you can never disappoint me. You’re gonna have to try really hard.” He took her hand again, stroking his thumb over the sapphire stone atop her finger. “And I think in that, you’re gonna fail.”

Brienne chuckled and dropped her head on his shoulder. She put her arms around him.

“I love you.”

He held her, kissed her temple. “Don’t stop.”

They held each other quietly before Jaime reluctantly straightened up. Playing with the short locks of her pale hair, he said, “Say. Why don’t you let me hear that lecture?”

Brienne was startled but also looked eager. She bit her lip, fighting the wide smile splitting across her face. “What? Really?”

“Yeah. Come on.”

“But. . .are you sure? I mean. . .it’s not really your interest.”

“Yeah, but it interests you,” he rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. “And I’m very much interested in you, Brienne Tarth.”

Their lips met, kissing gently. Then Brienne sighed and got to her feet. “Alright. Um. . .”she was blushing again, looking at her feet as she paced. Then she gave him the full force of her sapphire eyes and opened her lips to speak.

She fumbled at first, clearing her throat and looking at her note cards. Her cheeks were pink and lovely. Jaime sat back, charmed, at first, before he straightened up the deeper and more passionate Brienne got into the topic. The transformation was nothing short of amazing. She stood straighter but with relaxed shoulders. Her eyes shone and she looked at him right in the eye, reeling him in, engaging then intriguing him. Her sounded stronger, firmer, but her eyes remained warm. As she moved on to contemporary literature of Westeros, Jaime suddenly burst out laughing.

Brienne reddened vividly and froze. “What—What is it?”

Jaime shook his head and clapped his hands. “Brienne, you’ve been lecturing for two hours straight. Two hours and I want more. Now you just have to cut it and deliver it to the class as you just did. Tarth, you’re awesome. I’m so proud of you.”

“Oh, Jaime, that’s means so much to me.” Brienne told him. Her smile was beautiful and she looked very pleased with his words. Jaime stood up and she threw her arms around him. He embraced her just as tightly, whispering over and over how wonderful she was, how she was going to slay.

She was the first to kiss him this time. He kissed her back.

Her hand lowered to the hem of his t-shirt.

“You’re not sleepy?” She whispered in his ear. He grinned, feeling her cheek getting warmer.

“Fucking no.”

 

They hardly got any sleep. After fucking on the armchair, Jaime dragged her to the floor and they continued their carnal fun. Brienne’s grunts and gasps were the kind of lecture he liked to hear and he told her so, earning a playful punch on his shoulder. She refused to sleep on the floor, ignoring his protests that the carpet was thick enough and warm. She ended up having to heave him up so they could sleep, or at least try, the last two hours in bed, warm and bundled in blankets. Jaime ended up being tossed on his ass on the bed and he was so turned on by her strength that he pounced on her as soon as she joined him.

Despite the very vigorous night, Brienne woke up relaxed and loose-limbed. There was a note by Jaime on the pillow. He had written how proud he was of her and that he loved her very much. She held the paper to her heart, wondering what had she done in her life to be this lucky. For someone to believe in her as Jaime did. And to be loved like this.

She got up from the bed, ready to face the day. The aroma of brewing coffee and waffles beckoned her and she couldn’t help but smile, a hand climbing to her heart as it lurched with the realization of just how much she loved Jaime in return.

As she headed out of the bedroom, she could already see him in her mind. Blond and gorgeous, just wonderful, simply wonderful as he set the table to present her with waffles and coffee, and his smile. His smile that was always of pleasure and warmth. She heard him whistling, heard the thump of silver being laid on the table. Soon she would be at his side, kissing him on the cheek, appreciative of his sweet gesture. Oh, the idea. Of having Jaime at her side. Jaime supporting her, pushing her to make her dreams a reality.

With the love of Jaime, how could she not succeed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading this, you made it!
> 
> THANK YOU!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this little story, yet another installment in The Lannisters Are Coming. Comments, questions, and of course kudos are very welcome! 
> 
> In case you're looking for an update of my ongoing series, Blue Awakening, please bear with me and wait for August. Mid-August, actually. Things are really busy right now and I don't want to write the upcoming chapters when I can't give them the time and effort they deserve. But yes, come mid-August, there will be an update. Besides, we've got our eyes glued on our TV sets watching Season 7! We want no distractions! 
> 
> But if you want some of my smut (hehe), I have The Right Touch, a standalone J/B fic (of course) and also Pieces of You, a collaboration with SeleneU and LuxEvergreen. There's gonna be an update this week. :-) 
> 
> Thanks again!


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